In recent years, the National Estuarine Research Reserve System and its partners have become increasingly interested in applying an ecosystem services approach to coastal management. This approach, which considers the benefits that flow from nature to people, has been incorporated into the reserve system’s 2017 to 2022 Strategic Plan, and the federal government is considering ways to incorporate ecosystem services into its decision making. However, there is currently no standardized way to integrate ecosystem services into coastal management and decision-making processes.

In the Sixth Annual Report, Collaborative Leadership for Sustainability, made possible by The Dow Chemical Company Foundation, the Dow Sustainability Fellows Program at the University of Michigan (U-M) engaged 17 of U-M's 19 schools and colleges this past year.

Getting around without a car isn’t easy in many U.S. cities. People who rely on public transit often contend with many challenges, including decaying infrastructure, not having easy access to a transit stop, lack of system reliability, restrictions to how late or early a system operates, and often a lack of support to fund transit improvements. These difficulties can impact people in many ways, including their ability to access essential healthcare, jobs, and grocery stores. Ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft can pick up the slack from inadequate public transit, but they also present challenges, like being inaccessible to people with disabilities; lacking the incentive to work along unpopular routes; creating more emissions per mile traveled; and siphoning riders (and money) from public transit. One solution to these challenges is for transit agencies to enter into public-private partnerships with ride-hailing companies to expand public transit coverage.

Licensing public buildings and water towers for cell sites is common across the United States. However, the City of Madison (WI) and Madison Water Utility provide an instructive example of how a community can effectively negotiate and renegotiate its license agreements to realize the full value they provide telecommunications companies. This case is also an example of a community generating short-term revenue from private sources to support strategic municipal projects.

In the early 1990s, the City of Philadelphia became the first municipality to appoint a temporary public advocate to represent the interests of “small users,” residential customers and small businesses, during water rate-setting proceedings. It also established the role of a hearing officer whose function was to listen to testimony and provide a recommendation on water price during rate-setting cases.